First appearance

Voiced by

Martin Prince, Jr. (born August 2, 1980) is Bart's friend and classmate, and is Lisa's rival in intelligence. He is Nelson's favorite target for bullying and is an academically brilliant teacher's pet, and is portrayed as a stereotypical nerd. Martin is a fourth grade student at Springfield Elementary School. He is usually shown on friendly terms with Bart due to the fact that he is occasionally seen with him, along with Nelson, Milhouse, and other kids.

Martin raising his hand

Contents

Biography

Martin is the son of Martin Sr. and Martha. He is an academically brilliant student. He is also a teacher's pet with the stereotypical nerd enthusiasms for science fiction, role-playing games and not-so-great fashion sense. He has an IQ (Intelligence Quotient) of 216.[4] As the class nerd, he unwittingly becomes the perfect target for ruthless bullying at Springfield Elementary School. He is a member of the Springfield band, and is often seen with a French Horn. Martin often says "Behold!", "Pick me, teacher, I'm ever so smart!" and "Excelsior!"

Martin bullying a boy

Given Martin's fawning behavior towards adults and condescension towards his peers (such as successfully petitioning to have the school day extended by 20 minutes), most of Springfield cheers on his tormentors. An example of this is when Mrs. Krabappel assigns a World War I paper. Martin asks if he can type his report and then if it can be ten pages (minimum). Martin disappears almost immediately and Nelson lets the not particularly concerned teacher know that "he's gone now". Despite this behavior, Martin tries to be friendly with Nelson. Martin is somewhat overweight, as noted by Abraham Simpson. He is sent to the weight loss section of the hellish Kamp Krusty. Although his father calls it "image enhancement camp", Martin sees right through this, shouting "Spare me your euphemisms! It's fat camp for daddy's chubby little secret!" The sexuality of Martin was initially the subject of various jokes and innuendos, although he has since denied being gay. While non-canon in nature, Martin's future date to the prom turns out to be a robot.[5]

Once Bart challenged him for the class presidency. Martin, of course, has a comprehensive (though not particularly politically well-judged) platform which Bart, with the aid of Homer, picks apart with populist nonsense. In a debate, Martin begins to speak of the high level of asbestos in the classrooms. Bart interrupts and says "That's not enough! We want more asbestos! More Asbestos!," leaving the entire class chanting the slogan. Nevertheless, Bart still loses the election as Martin and his running mate Wendell are the only ones in the class who bothered to vote on election day.

Despite the natural animosity between Bart and Martin, the two have often joined forces. Sometimes they even appear friends and will work together when needed. Once Martin tutored Bart in exchange for lessons on being cool (although Martin betrayed Bart at the end of their collaboration). Martin and Bart also worked together on a soapbox racer. Bart, Martin, and Milhouse all pool their money to buy a copy of the first Radioactive Man comic (although both Milhouse and Bart think he is trying to steal it so tie they him to a chair). Also, when Bart must wear corrective lenses, leg supports, and temporarily looks quite nerdy, he becomes an even greater target for bullying. During this time, Martin and a group of nerds befriend him until he no longer has to wear his glasses or boots. When kids from Shelbyville steal Springfield's lemon tree, Martin joins Bart as part of the gang of raiders who seek to take the lemon tree back (Bart describes him as the gang's smart guy). Martin's closest friends are apparently Wendell, Database, and the German exchange student Üter, who he bears a resemblance to.

Martin imagining being a professional basketball player

During one spring break, Martin accompanies Bart, Nelson, and Milhouse on a chaotic road trip to Knoxville, Tennessee. Bart is not very harsh on Martin (yet he mistakenly refers to him as "Milton" and is corrected by Milhouse) most of the time, but Martin can get out of control. Aside from being a bit snobbish, Martin once became a bad boy even worse than Bart, once slapped Bart on the head when Bart was sad that Homer didn't support him, and once threateningly held a small Shelbyville kid up against a tree.

Martin playing the flute

Over time, Bart has become less and less hostile with Martin to the point of total neutrality, but this has not stopped the Springfield Elementary bullies from continuing their traditional beating. Martin also has become less condescending and more passive. He is often depicted as too passive, since even Lisa can be a bit harsh to him, such as an event in which Lisa is initially blamed by Sherri and Terri for being responsible for stranding the group of children on a deserted island because she helped set up the disastrous field trip. Lisa in turn states that Martin seconded the trip, and because of that it is his fault. Martin has been known to casually hang out with Bart's group from time to time as well, and is often seen with Bart and Milhouse in the background. He is also occasionally seen with Ralph Wiggum. Martin also sits directly in front of Bart in their fourth grade class. Although they often work together on various school projects and classwork, it is implied in many episodes that Martin and Lisa are also rivals, especially when it comes to the Science Fair. Martin is seen grinning at the back of the bus, as it rides off without her. He proclaims that without Lisa there to grab the first prize badge, he will receive first place, despite her IQ being 158, his IQ being 216.

At the climax of the The Simpsons Movie, as Homer and Bart attempt to save Springfield by throwing Russ Cargill's bomb outside of the giant glass dome entrapping the entire town, Martin approaches his usual tormentors, Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney, screaming I've been taking your crap all my life!. He then picks up a wooden two by four and beats them up as long overdue revenge.

Relationship with bullies

Nelson Muntz

Martin is Nelson's favorite bullying target. He is often inflicting many painful acts of bullying on him. In The Squirt and the Whale he is giving Martin a wedgie in an alley, causing Martin to make a very high-pitched noise. He is also seen giving him a noogey in Lost Verizon. In Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts Nelson uses Martin as a lock on for the door by taping his hands together. He was also seen throwing tomatoes at him with fellow bullies, Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney while a helpless Martin was dangling from the bleachers by his tied up feet. In Lemon of Troy, he saves Martin from getting beat up by a Shelbyville kid, but Nelson appears embarrassed about it and claims he doesn't normally hang out with him. When Martin is supposedly killed in Dial "N" for Nerder he sets out to solve who was involved in his demise. When Nelson finds out Martin is alive, he punches him, but says that he is glad he is not dead. In Grade School Confidential, Martin invites Nelson to his birthday party. When he places the invitation on Nelson's desk, Nelson pushes it off and gives him a rejectful sigh. Martin puts the invitation back on his desk, but he shoves it off again.

Jimbo Jones, Dolph Starbeam, Kearney Zzyzwicz

The three of them show almost absolutely no friendship towards Martin. They often inflict many painful and embarrassing acts of bullying on him, like stringing him up the flagpole by his underwear. In The Simpsons Movie Martin is seen getting a flagpole wedgie by Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney. In Any Given Sundance when they needed to make sound effects for a video Lisa was making that involved Marge pounding meat, they made the sound by having Jimbo and Dolph hold Martin's arms while Kearney punches him. When Martin pleaded Lisa to have them turn to the next scene, it was just Marge pounding a different type of meat, much to Martin's disappointment. When the three bullies were trying to train Marge to be a MMA fighter in The Great Wife Hope, they told Marge to punch a punching bag that had a struggling Martin tied up inside of it. According to Martin, they put him in there because he looked them in the eye when he gave them his lunch money. Although they inflict various act of bullying on him, he appears to be quite friendly with them. In Barting Over when he gets a tattoo of a unicorn on his cheek from a tattoo parlor (which he thought was a paint dispenser), he goes up to them a shows it off. When they inform him it was a tattoo parlor, he passes out. The bullies hesitate beating him up thinking, "He's suffered enough," but then choose to beat him anyway. When Martin offers to share his box of cookies from the bakery with someone who has a knife that can cut the ribbon that keeps the box closed in Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood, Jimbo and Kearney willing cut the ribbon for him. Martin thanks them and says, "Now let's all share the goodness". Kearney then says "Share this!" before swiping the cookies from Martin and pushing him into a mud puddle leaving him humiliated. In Bye Bye Nerdie the three of them along with Nelson are seen throwing tomatoes at him while he is hanging from the bleechers by his feet. In the movie when he and every one else thinks their end is coming by the bomb, he walks up to them and yells "I've been taking your crap all my life!" and he beats them up with a stick saying it was fun and then he continues to beat them up. In the D'ohcial Network Jimbo ties him to a tree for trying to explain the word conundrum and then Jimbo and Bart throw punches at him.

Non Canon Appearances

The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened/existed.

Future

An older Martin.

He attended Springfield High School and went to the prom with a robot. He most likely went to college and then returned to Springfield Elementary and became a teacher. There was a science fair explosion at Springfield Elementary. He was thought to have been killed, but he survived, although he admits that on a few days, he did wish that he had died on that day. He lived the rest of his life like the Phantom of the Opera under the school, playing music on an electric pipe organ. He also is one of the many people to donate their digestive track to Bart. In Holidays of Future Passed, Martin has a sex change operation and goes by Marcia Princess.

Martin winning $600

The Simpsons Game

Prior to the events of The Simpsons Game, Martin was at a Band Concert and Wiseguy went to see it. Wiseguy went to Martin to tell him that he heard him and his French Horn was way out of Tune, Martin explains that he tuned it in a cold room at the School Auditorium it was Surprisingly warm and James Horner was in the audience puking. Martin says he could set thing right my refunding the ticket price wish was three dollars but Wiseguy said three dollars won't pay back for the time he lost and said to repay him buy tuning his instrument like A Dam Professional.

Prior to The Simpsons Game Martin sold Band Candy to Lou. Lou later when up to Martin and said he bought a crunch bar and it was Almond inside Martin said Almonds are crunchy, Lou said that crunch on a candy bar usually means Rice or something Marin says usually but not always and if there is anything else Lou replies with No and Calls Martin a jerk.

Then Martin gets Grand Theft Scratchy and hijacks Ned's car and later crashes it and fights Lisa and Marge.

Trivia

If Bart copied the IQ test answers from Martin's sheet perfectly and Martin didn't cheat either, Martin's IQ would be 216; however, the real highest child's IQ is around 162.